"When
I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just
what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."

"The
question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many
different things."

"The
question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—
that's all."

Pro-torture defenders predictably pass off the same
old excuses (“it may have been
wrong, but we didn’t do it) and justifications
(“yes we did it but we had too and thus it wasn’t wrong). Denials, dismissals, excuses, or
justifications do not erase the sanctioned cruelty nor lessen the crimes
committed. There are ten simple things to remember:

(1) It’s never who
you do it too but always what it is you actually did. Much as our conversations about
Eric Garner and Michael Brown similarly switch villains, torture is never about
the person brutalized but those who imagine, prepare, and commit cruel and
inhumane acts. It’s never about guilt or innocence of the victims – not
the least because those who are tortured are never subject to trial or
prosecution. In a just society, there are limits to authority. When those
limits are breached, that authority cracks and breaks. For a rightwing that
revels in childish tantrums, the simply lessen of Humpty Dumpty is lost on
them.

(2)The methods employed by the CIA are straightforwardly torture. Drowning, sleep deprivation to the point of
insanity, slapping, beating, slamming, and dragging are beyond dispute forms of
torture. A medically unnecessary rectal infusion of one’s lunch takes pain and
degradation to a new level of excess.

“any act by which severe pain or suffering,
whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such
purposes as obtaining from him or a third person, information or a confession,
punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of
having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any
reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is
inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a
public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not
include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to
lawful sanctions.

The
United States ratified the Convention against Torture in 1994. It was President
Ronald Reagan who initially submitted the Convention against Torture to the
senate for ratification in 1988.

(4)Torture is criminal, absolute and in
existing state and federal law. As crime, it’s absolute – there
aren’t any grounds where it’s permissible. And as crime, particular offenses
are covered by existing criminal law. These points were acknowledged in the
State Departments’ report
to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in 1999.

Š“Torture cannot be justified by exceptional
circumstances, nor can it be excused on the basis of an order from a superior
officer.” Alleged effectiveness of torture is never the issue. To do otherwise
imperils the law.

ŠActs of torture are crimes and they fall
within the scope of existing federal or state laws on assault, maiming, murder,
manslaughter, attempt to commit murder or manslaughter, or rape as well as conspiracy
and being an accessory after the fact. “Every state criminalizes deliberate
acts of bodily injury as well as abuses of authority on the part of state
agents, whether as common assault and battery, homicide, rape, etc., as well as
conspiracies, attempts, complicity, solicitation, etc.”

ŠTorture also are criminal violations of the federal civil
rights statutes, depriving an individual of “the free exercise or enjoyment of
a right of privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States.

(5)Human rights are at stake. This isn’t a matter of dispute among
partisans. It’s an argument for violating human rights. No amount of dishonest
language - labeling the CIA’s tactics as “enhanced interrogation techniques” –
and no amount of invocations of 9/11 or fear mongering about terrorism can
escape what a few want to do to the many – abridge human rights. This never
is a matter of dispute among partisans. Pro-torture advocates argue for violating
human rights. It’s a call for the government to sanction and engage in unlawful,
criminal activity.

(6)The CIA lied, lied again, and lied about lying. The CIA repeatedly lied to Congress and
knowingly destroyed evidence of its wrongdoing. The CIA also spied on the
senate committee charged with oversight. To steal from Mary McCarthy,
everything the CIA says is a lie, including the “and” and “the.”

(7)No congressional oversight = no CIA accountability. Congressional
oversight has been significantly compromised. The responses by the CIA
leadership and Senate Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee criticizing
the committee’s report represent a further compromise. The CIA regards itself
as beyond accountable. Where in the past 60 years has a CIA without
accountability not take a horrible situation and make it much, much worse.

(8)What price torture? An unaccountable government
agency, a cowed political leadership.a
vindictive elite, and a fearful public.This
never turns out well.